Critters

MOVIES Attend a screening of "Killer Klowns From Outer Space," a camp classic featuring creepy clown puppets by the Chiodo Brothers, who are masters of special effects puppetry. Their handiwork has spanned decades, from the toothy fur balls in the Critters franchise to the gun-toting, epically vomiting marionettes in "Team America: World Police. " The Chiodo Brothers will host a Q&A after the film. Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.. 11:50 p.m. Fri., $10. (323)

If you visit Sitka and Juneau, Alaska, this month, it's often easy to spot bald eagles, ravens and black and brown bears on your own. (I expected to have the same luck in June and got skunked, except for the raven I photographed in a Foodland parking lot.) Timing is everything with wildlife watching and opportunities increase when berries are ripe or fish are running or spawning. Here's a look at when and where to see bears, eagles and whales inexpensively in southeastern Alaska.

Calendar's map of the movie kingdom overlooked a viable independent film company, Smart Egg Pictures. Formed in 1981 by George Zecevic, Smart Egg has produced more than 20 features, including co-producing (financing) the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series and the original "Critters." Smart Egg, which also has produced the critically acclaimed films "Montenegro" and "The Coca-Cola Kid," plans to release its own product starting in the fall. CHARLES SHERMAN National Publicity Director Smart Egg Pictures

Election day has arrived -- at Frontier Airlines . For the first time, the Denver-based airline on Monday asked fliers to vote for the next animal  that should grace the tail of one of its planes. And here's a game-changer in this election: Not all 18 contenders follow the cute-and-cuddly model. In fact, some are downright off-putting. Fans may cast their ballot for hopefuls such as Paula the Pig and Duke the Arctic Dog (high on the cute index) or Doug the Dung Beetle and Samson the Sloth (uh, freakish and strange)

Re "Wildlife found unlikely to be E. coli culprits," April 11 According to some growers, the only safe way of growing veggies requires annihilating anything that runs, crawls, flies or swims. Based on this, if I want to keep consuming what I harvest from my tiny backyard garden, I first have to trap or poison all the critters that visit the place: our cats, the neighbors' cats and occasionally possums, squirrels and lizards. I could then eat perfectly sterile produce in a perfectly sterile world.

EVENTS Giving new meaning to the phrase "creature comforts," the all-inclusive Aliens to Zombies Convention celebrates extraterrestrials, the undead and otherterrifying critters. Participants include special-effects artist Todd Masters, "The Walking Dead" actor Michael Rooker, "Dark Skies" producer Bryce Zabel, and monster makers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. Fri., 11 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Sat. $50-$75. (323) 665-8080. http://www.alienstozombies.com

"Meet Your Animal Friends." Children's Video Library. $29.95. "See the geese? Hello, geese! See the geese walk?" So it goes, as Lynn Redgrave brightly narrates a series of nicely shot film clips showing 23 rather dull domesticated critters. Adults will tire of all the pigs, rabbits, llamas and yaks staring at the camera, accompanied by Redgrave's condescending Dick-and-Jane patter.

Flazey, the gluttonous grouper that ate $5,000 worth of his tankmates in an Illinois pet shop, has eaten himself out of house and home. Terry Haley, the aquarium store owner from Lansing, Ill., has grown weary of the insatiable fish and plans to release it Monday in the ocean off Ft. Lauderdale. The fish's expensive tastes attracted the attention of the media last May and even earned it an offer to appear on "The Tonight Show." But Haley refused to take the fish to the studio.

Move over, Teddy Ruxpin. You're just kids' stuff now. Pete, Repeat and their friends have blabbed their way into the talking toy market with fuzzy critters tailored to the needs of executives. For $45, a "corporate yes man" can be had in the form of a high-tech hippo, bear or bunny, telling bosses just what they want to hear--over and over and over again. A multi-microchip device buried inside each animal's tummy enables them to record their master's voice and replay it, all within four seconds.

The tourists think big. Arriving in Southern California, they expect to conquer Disneyland and Hollywood, perhaps on the same day, in between the surfing and snowboarding. Then they get stuck in traffic. Then come the recriminations, the tears, the vows to visit an island next time. The locals think small. Tracing tight little loops between home and work, they dodge freeways and alien neighborhoods. There are Los Feliz people who haven't set foot in Venice since the latter Bush administration (I'm one)

EVENTS Giving new meaning to the phrase "creature comforts," the all-inclusive Aliens to Zombies Convention celebrates extraterrestrials, the undead and otherterrifying critters. Participants include special-effects artist Todd Masters, "The Walking Dead" actor Michael Rooker, "Dark Skies" producer Bryce Zabel, and monster makers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., L.A. 7 p.m. Fri., 11 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Sat. $50-$75. (323) 665-8080. http://www.alienstozombies.com

MOVIES Attend a screening of "Killer Klowns From Outer Space," a camp classic featuring creepy clown puppets by the Chiodo Brothers, who are masters of special effects puppetry. Their handiwork has spanned decades, from the toothy fur balls in the Critters franchise to the gun-toting, epically vomiting marionettes in "Team America: World Police. " The Chiodo Brothers will host a Q&A after the film. Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.. 11:50 p.m. Fri., $10. (323)

Question: We are planning a trip to New York City next summer. Is there a list of bedbug-free hotels? How can we protect ourselves? S. Penza, Camarillo Answer: Bedbugs have become such an issue that several websites have sprung up to help travelers scope out hotels at their destination. Check out http://www.bedbugregistry.com and http://www.bedbugreports.com , and also look at TripAdvisor.com (search for "bed bugs" or "bedbugs"). You'll find some pretty harrowing tales of these little suckers and how they can leave people scratching their heads (and face and legs and ankles, which is where they often bite)

Rats may soon become heroic figures in this nation's struggle to detect and dispose of land mines. Early next year, anti-narcotics police will begin deploying squads of rats to sniff out land mines in remote areas of Colombia where leftist rebels and drug traffickers have planted hundreds of thousands of the deadly devices. It's an unconventional initiative in a country that is second only to Afghanistan in the number of land mine victims. Using a project in Tanzania as a model, Colombian scientists have taught rats to detect mines buried as deep as 3 feet.

Rachel Campos de Ivanov was walking her dog last Sunday night when she saw two eyes glowing in the darkness. Her border terrier barked furiously. The eyes came closer, and she discerned a masked furry critter. She turned away and her pursuer, a raccoon, charged. Then four other raccoons dropped from the trees and joined the chase. "I was running as fast as I could and screaming at the top of my lungs, 'Help! Help! Help!' " said the East Bay resident. "I ran about a third of a block, then tripped and fell on the ground.

A pair of professional arborists, licensed to climb and care for trees, were perched high in the branches of a 110-foot Monterey cypress in the Presidio park of San Francisco. Secured by harnesses and a web of rock-climbing ropes used for rappelling down the trunk, they were awaiting instructions from the ground. "Could you try the limb below your right foot?" said their boss, landscape designer Peter Good. "Is there any way to get the nest to stand more vertically?" asked gallerist Cheryl Haines.

A four-year survey of a strange salmonella outbreak in children found that the culprits appear to be pet African dwarf frogs, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study released Monday in the journal Pediatrics is the first to link a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium to an amphibian species. Salmonella is typically a food-borne disease: Nontyphoidal salmonella sickens an estimated 1.2 million people per year, hospitalizing 23,000 and resulting in 450 deaths.

Mosquito fish, pint-sized predators distributed to gobble mosquito larvae, appear to be decimating California newts. Lee Kats, a scientist at Pepperdine, says mosquito fish also like larvae of the small amphibians and are devouring them as they find their way into streams. Ironically, newts also eat insects, including mosquitoes.

On the fringe of Compton's manufacturing zone lies a row of boarded-up single-family homes that shelter not humans, but a billion-bug-and-worm breeding enterprise. It's nicknamed "Worm City," and Fred Rhyme is its mayor. FOR THE RECORD: Mealworms: An article in the Dec. 13 California section about a Compton worm farm incorrectly attributed a quote to Rosa Gomez. It was Daniel Cervantes, a resident near the farm, who was washing his car when he said, "They've been here all these years before I moved here in 2004."

It's official. Those discerning car critics, the black bears of Yosemite, have voted the minivan their most sought-after vehicle. Not to drive, of course, just to break into. Year after year, foraging bears have made minivans their first or second choice among tens of thousands of SUVs, sedans, sports cars and other vehicles in Yosemite National Park. At least that's the conclusion of an article in this month's issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, which details a study of 908 bear-on-vehicle break-ins from 2001 to 2007.